CARGO1

CARGO1 will set sail this summer; a sailing, touring exhibition to travel the west coast of Scotland.

An exhibition of portable works by

Charlotte Watters / Veronica Lussier / Andrea Roe / Dalziel + Scullion / Kenny Hunter / Ilana Halperin / Jessica Lloyd Jones / Catriona Murray

'CARGO' is a project which aims to exhibit and develop travelling contemporary exhibitions and artists' opportunities by boat. The first aspect will be launched this summer with CARGO1. This is to be an exhibition of the work of 8 contemporary artists which will be exhibited on the west coast of Scotland at various locations.

This exhibition will be transported by boat, and exhibited at locations and venues on land. Some of these will be pre-arranged, and others will be impromptu events, when situations allow. All of the details and information about locations, times and dates will accompany the travelling exhibition on the website www.cargo1.co.uk The vessel which is to be used for this maiden exhibition is the 1926 wooden Bermudan Cutter: 'Maureen'. The work will be housed and transported in boxes aboard the boat, and unpacked and hung/set-up in the various venues along the way. There will be links between the work, in the different gallery/showing spaces, and the boat, perhaps with the boat at local piers with additional works visible.

CARGO1 is being launched with a preview on Friday the 25th of July, with the first exhibition of the tour, in an talla solais, Ullapool Visual Arts, Market Street Ullapool. During the day of 25th July, and weather permitting, it is intended that Maureen will be at the slipway by the Loch Broom Sailing Club, Ullapool, so that the public can come and see the vessel which will transport the CARGO

CARGO1 is sponsored by ECA edinburgh art college and The Hope Scott Trust, Promoting Music and the Visual Arts in Scotland.
The exhibition in an talla solais will run from the 26th of July till the 1st of August from 2 - 5 daily

Graduate Exhibition 2008 at an talla solais

Ruth Stockl, costume graduate from Edinburgh College of Art
Alasdair Boyce, illustration graduate from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art

Sat12th - Sun 20th July, 2-5pm every day, admission free
For new access, follow signs from Loch Broom Leisure Centre

In Response

There will be an opportunity to make your own response to the poetry of Les Murray

Poetry and Print-making Workshop

• Held at an talla solais
• Saturday 5th July 10.00 am - 4.00 pm
• No experience necessary.
• Cost: £10 (covers materials, tea/coffee and cakes, but bring your own lunch)
• Maximum 10 places.
• Pre-booking, along with payment, by Monday 30th June.
• Tutor: Jan Kilpatrick

WILD WEST WAVE, Ullapool Primary School pupils at an talla

WILD WEST WAVE is a recent workshop with Ullapool Primary School Pupils led by Mandy Henderson using discarded plastic to produce a massive mural.

Come and see the result in an talla solais, Market Street, Ullapool, on Monday 2nd,Tuesday 3rd and Wednesday 4th June, 2pm - 5pm entry by side door and follow arrow.

Funded by Ullapool Teachers Council and Ullapool Primary School and hosted by an talla solais Admission free, contributions gratefully received.

at an talla solais, Ullapool Visual Arts.
Thursday 12 June - Sunday 6th July, open daily 2pm- 5pm.

Ullapool is about to receive a visit from one of the most prestigious literary figures in world poetry.

Les Murray, the internationally renowned Australian poet, is to give a reading on Wednesday, June 11th at 7.00 pm in The MacPhail Centre in Ullapool.

He has published numerous collections of award-winning poetry, including verse novels, along with prose works of memoir and criticism. Among the many literary awards he has received are the Grace Leven Prize, the Petrarch Prize and the prestigious TS Eliot Award for his collection Subhuman Redneck Poems. In 1999, he was awarded the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry.

The huge richness of linguistic invention, of ideas and of stylistic diversity in Les Murray's poetry has been celebrated by many writers on many continents. Blake Morrison has described him as 'one of the finest poets writing in English today, one of the superleague which includes Seamus Heaney, Derek Walcott and Joseph Brodsky.' David Malouf considers him 'perhaps the most naturally gifted poet of his generation.'

Although he has visited Scotland before, this will be his first visit to the Highlands. Murray, who grew up on a dairy farm in Bunyah on the coast of New South Wales, is of Scottish descent and often depicts the ways in which the Scots and Gaelic people, culture and attitudes adapted to the Australian landscape and society. He portrays rural working life, family and 'clan' or ancestry, and complicated questions of national identity. In Australia, he is a powerful advocate for Aboriginal culture and its struggle for survival under the power and dominance of colonial imperialism. All these ideas will find an echo in the historical attitudes to and development of the Gaelic language and culture in the Highlands. However, Murray's range is vast and not to be encompassed by any brief outline. He is a poet of truly international significance and importance.

Les Murray's presence in Ullapool is also being celebrated by a specially created exhibition of art works in response to his poetry. A wide range of contemporary artists have been invited to submit works to the exhibition which will be held in the an talla solais arts centre in Market Street in Ullapool to coincide with Les Murray's visit.

Les Murray's visit is sponsored by The MacPhail Centre, an talla solais, Ullapool Book Festival and Bridgehouse Art.

For further information contact :

The Macphail Centre, Mill Street, Ullapool IV26 2UN
Tel 01854 613336    email : mail@macphailcentre.co.uk

an talla solais' first exhibition of the 2008 summer programme, In Response, is a visual response to the poetry of Les Murray. Les Murray, the internationally renowned Australian poet, is making his first visit to the Highlands to give a reading in Ullapool. This event is also hosted by an talla solais.

The eight artists contributing to In Response were chosen for their strong feeling for poetry, some of whom have a particular connection with the work of Les Murray. The artists are:

Jacqueline Watt

Jonathan Brown

Kenneth le Riche

Daniel Reeves

Dalziel + Scullion

Eleanor White

Donald and Lindsay Blair

Donald Urquhart

Please contact Lindsay Blair for further details and/or a jpeg at: lindsayblair@btinternet.com or t: 01854 655215; m: 07720709307

Bridge House Art Portfolio Class, the 1st visual arts users of the new building

'As we write this all of us Portfolio Preparation students are mounting up work ready for our exhibition, and for our Art School applications.

We started at the end of November just four of us full-timers, joined on certain days by Spencer and Jenny from Gairloch High and Alice and Rosie from Ullapool. The normal 7 week first half of the course had had to be shrunk to only 3 and so we did an extremely concentrated pre Christmas stint, finishing with a life drawing week. Our stalwart models Pat and Cathy sat for us in the wintry conditions of the old building.

When we started again in the New Year, Georgia, Frances and Jane joined us. The old 'an talla solais' building, now demonstrably on its last legs, was a cold and damp setting for a week spent printing, which we all enjoyed very much, although swathed in blankets. The walls were too wet by this time to put the finished work up. We then spent another week life painting, using oils this time, a new experience for most of us.

The life week was the final section of the taught part of the course and for the past 5 weeks we have been working on our personal projects.

We also moved buildings! This was comparatively easy as we benefited from the hard work of the 'an talla solais' volunteers. So we're now in two rooms instead of one and are comfortably warm and dry.

We've all got an enormous amount from the course, and it's all due to Eleanor's boundless energy and huge skill in teaching. We are all soon to go off in our various directions, but we'll never forget 'an talla solais'.'

Pamela Granville.

Our school pupils from Ullapool, Gairloch, Golspie, Kinlochbervie and Granton-on-Spey, are very fortunate to have the experience of an excellent mini college course, tutored by Eleanor White and other local specialists from the area. They can enjoy the experience of being out of school and embarking on the adult world, while also having the security of a home from home, under Eleanor's care. Bridge House Art has a particularly good record of successful applicants gaining place to all scottish colleges.

Ullapool benefits greatly in many ways from this facility created by Bridge House Art. Not only are we allowed to see the results in a very interesting final show, but many of the students come from elsewhere, to live in Ullapool during the two terms. This brings good business to the village, in terms of accommodation requirements, as well as the students using restaurants, shops, and leisure facilities, all at a time of year that is normally very quiet for those involved in the business of tourism. We will welcome Bridge House Art to an talla solais, for any course Eleanor wants to run here, if the premises are available

The Portfolio Exhibition

The display of the resulting work from Bridge House Portfolio Course, was our first exhibition in the new building. 103 people attended the opening on the first evening The show ran for a week and was tremendously successful in terms of looking stunning and drawing a record number of visitors in the short time it was available.

It was a lovely show, spread over 3 rooms and a hallway, the large working studio being converted quickly with its second coat of paint, to become a gallery room.

It is interesting that all the extra space we have acquired, has been put to use at once and while not overflowing yet, we have certainly found a need for all the rooms. It was good too, to see work displayed in different spaces, and while the beautiful height and light of the old library building are no longer available to us, there are compensations in having the variety of spaces as well as more of them.

Japanese Visit

We were very pleased to be asked to be hosts to a contingent of Japanese visitors from the Island of Hokkaido in northern Japan. The group came over to Scotland to study an area which had undergone regeneration and Ullapool was chosen as a good example. Hokkaido had gone though a period of dispersal of population from the rural areas to the major cities, and these visitors looked to Ullapool to see how this village had grown and prospered in recent times.

Lindsay Campbell brought the visitors to us as an example of successful enterprise. It was very rewarding that the visitors stayed for a couple of hours, looking over our current exhibition, being shown the individual studios by the artists who are working there, and then having a sit down talk with all the committee members who were present. We were videoed during all of this visit, and strangely, it was not art all disconcerting! We remembered to photograph our guests just as they were leaving!! It was especially rewarding that the professors chose to become members of our association and they will be sent our Newsletter by email. We understand that the group went on after lunch at the Ceilidh Place to visit other Ullapool successes in the village.

Japanese Visitors, Professors Wahei Ishi, Tsukasa Uchida, Yoshihero Kubota from Sapporo Gakuin University in Hokkaido and Lindsay Campbell (centre) from Highland and Islands Enterprise, visit us feb 08

Ceramics at an talla solais

an talla solais will host a small series of hand-building ceramics night classes on the 11th and 18th March which will culminate in a day's Raku firing on the 29th led by Allison Weightman.

'It is hoped, that with enough interest, this will become a regular occurrence with specialists in all aspects of the subject offering their skills to the Community.

an talla solais has recognised the demise of the subject from Art colleges across Britain and especially in Scotland. In the past 12 years Aberdeen, Dundee and Edinburgh Art colleges have all closed their departments leaving Glasgow as the last college to offer a degree course. It has been reported that Glasgow are now considering closing their department also. The reason being that there are not enough applicants for the course.

In some ways it is hard to believe this as my experience of being in the last year of the Edinburgh College of Art course (which was their biggest year group in some time) The atmosphere amongst students was that of 'great loss'. I wonder on reflection of the experience whether the problem lies in the first year (perhaps there is not enough encouragement to take up the subject) and/or whether the cost of running a Ceramic department has a huge influence on whether the subject should remain in Art Schools. Maybe my opinions are somewhat biased…I am passionate about clay.

This medium is valuable and it is a sad day that people will not be able to study the subject at the high levels of skill and technique that Art Colleges provide.

an talla solais has committed itself to designating 2 rooms in their new building to ceramics (and glass working) , one of which will house the kilns. This facility will be an asset not only to ATS and Ullapool, but also to the wider community, offering specialist courses and potentially the hire of the facility to potters who want to come and work for short spells in the Highlands.

We do not believe that Ceramics deserve the same fate as the dinosaurs!!! '

Allison Weightman

Ceramic Course led by Allison Weightman

Learn the skills of Handbuilding Ceramics and Raku Firing.
Tuesday 11th March 7pm-9.30pm
Tuesday 18th March 7pm-9.30pm
Raku firing day of work Saturday 29th March 10am-4pm
£35 for full course, plus materials used.
Please call Allison on 0154 655310 or mobile 07767447446
for further information and enrolment.

All classes in an talla solais

These courses are part funded by Highland Council